Killer Ambition - [86]

I flipped through the murder book, to the evidence report. “You ever get the hard copy of Averly’s phone bill? I don’t see it here.”

“I should have it soon. It took a little while because I asked them to go back through all of his numbers for the past ten years.”

“Okay, keep in touch.”

“Yeah, sure. I’ll call every fifteen minutes.” She hung up. I did not believe she would.

For the next couple of days, I toiled away at my desk, working through lunch, taking my dinners in my room. Other than the occasional visit from Toni and phone call from Graden, the only people I spoke to were Declan and Bailey. Thanks to my having delegated the daily Vanderhorn reports to Declan, I didn’t have to waste time cooling my heels in his anteroom-or catching more of Francine’s “I told you so” looks. I had a feeling Vanderhorn was A-OK with this arrangement. By Wednesday evening, I’d gotten on top of the case enough to believe I might just be able to spend some weekend time with Graden, so I called him and asked what he was doing on Saturday.

“You could come over to my place and let me make dinner for you,” he suggested. I knew it was a concession to my desire to avoid restaurants, where I might run into less than adoring fans, or the press. But it would also put us alone in his house…with wine. I was, however, sorely tempted.

“I might not have time for a whole night out.”

Graden suggested we wait and see how the rest of the week shook out. “We could always just grab a quick bite downtown.”

I agreed. Did he know that my hesitation was only partially work related? I couldn’t tell.

On Thursday Bailey called with news.

“I got Averly’s phone bill. Wait’ll you see. Oh, and by the way, it does look like he and Powers go back-”

“Great. Wait’ll I see what?”

“I skipped right by it the first time, for some damn reason-”

This preamble was killing me. “Tell me already!”

She continued, rolling right over me, “-but then I realized there was something familiar about one of the numbers. I checked out the exact time and then I checked out the number-”

“Seriously, I’m going to hang up.”

“Remember the texts between Hayley and Brian on the mountain?”

I exhaled impatiently. “Of course.”

“Well, after the last text from Brian, there was a gap, and then there was a text telling Hayley to come out and meet on the trail-”

“That was probably from the killer. Yes, I know-”

“No, there’s no ‘probably.’ That text was definitely from the killer.”

I sat up and clutched the phone. “What?”

“In the same minute-probably within seconds of sending that text, the killer made a call from Brian’s cell. To Jack Averly.”

“Oh, my God.” This was huge. It proved that Averly didn’t take part in the actual killings. Powers wouldn’t be calling Averly if Averly was standing next to him. And Powers wouldn’t have been using Brian’s cell to do it if Brian was still alive and kicking.

“That’s it,” I said. “Ian Powers called Averly after he killed Brian-”

“-to say he’d found Hayley?”

“Or to tell Averly what direction he’d be moving in so Averly could meet him.”

We had our proof: Ian Powers had killed them both.

52

“We’ve got to turn this over to Terry,” I said. This was critical Brady material-evidence helpful to Averly’s defense-and it had to be provided immediately. Ian’s phone call was proof that Averly wasn’t present during Brian’s murder, and it was a pretty strong indication that he hadn’t been present for Hayley’s murder either. Powers didn’t need Averly’s help to take Hayley down, not once he realized she was within striking distance. His call to Averly-made at the same time he texted Hayley-provided some evidence that he was telling Averly where to meet him and going after Hayley himself. The fact that there was no physical evidence tying Averly to either murder offered more support for the theory that Ian had done the killings alone. Put it all together, and Averly had a decent basis for the claim that he truly didn’t know about the murder plan, which meant that he was only an accessory after the fact.

I put in a call to Terry and told her what I had. I said I’d sweeten the deal and give Averly time served, which meant that if he pled guilty as an accessory, he’d get out immediately.

“You’re going to insist on making him this deal in person again,” Terry said irritably.

“Correct. We should do it fast too, because if he’s going to take it, I’ll need to call off my witnesses and get him ready to testify at Powers’s preliminary hearing.”

“I can make it at two thirty,” Terry said.

“Fine.”

“And bring me a copy of that phone bill.”

I’d make her sign an acknowledgment of receipt form too. She’d already shown she was going to play the “prosecutor is hiding discovery” game at the arraignment. I planned to make sure she paid for that gambit. From now until her client pled guilty, I was going to bury her in discovery and have her signing acknowledgment forms, on the record, until her fingers fell off.

I gave Declan the good news.

“I’m calling Mr. Vanderhorn right now,” he said.

I hadn’t heard anyone say “Mr.” Vanderhorn in so long, I almost didn’t recognize the name.